The protein kinases represent a large family of proteins, which play a central role in the regulation of a wide variety of cellular processes and maintaining control over cellular function. These kinases include receptor tyrosine kinases, such as platelet-derived growth factor receptor kinase (PDGF-R), the receptor kinase for stem cell factor, c-Kit, and non-receptor tyrosine kinases, such as the fusion kinase Bcr-abl.
Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is an extensively studied human cancer that is caused by a reciprocal translocation that fuses the Abl proto-oncogene on chromosome 9 with a gene on chromosome 22 called Bcr. The resulting fusion protein Bcr-abl is capable of transforming B-cells by increasing mitogenic activity, reducing sensitivity to apoptosis and altering the adhesion and homing of CML progenitor cells. STI-571 (Gleevec) is an inhibitor of the oncogenic Bcr-abl tyrosine kinase and is used for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). However, some patients in the blast crisis stage of CML are resistant to STI-571 due to mutations in the Bcr-abl kinase.
The novel compounds of this invention inhibit one or more kinases; in particular wild type and one or more of the mutant forms of Bcr-abl and are, therefore, useful in the treatment of kinase-associated diseases, particularly Bcr-abl kinase associated diseases.